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For the third day of defence witnesses, five witnesses were scheduled to testify; Tewee Chavphijit (นายทร ชาวพิจิตร),Director of the legal and litigation division at the justice department; Malee Manmintra (น.ส.มาลี แม้นมินทร์), Deputy Director of Bangkok City planning department; Viboonsaitej Thitapan (นางวิบูลย์เพ็ญ หิตะพันธ์), from the Auditor Generals office; A Director of the Bank of Thailand and Viliwaan Sasanantra (นางวิไลวรรณ ศศานนท์), also an official at the Auditor Generals office.
The hearing started with an announcement from the legal representatives of Thaksin and Pojaman Shinawatra. They told the Justices of the Supreme Court that they had been advised by their clients, that their services would no longer be required. They additionally requested the courts permission to withdraw from the case.
After a thirty minute recess, the Judges announced that they were not going to allow either of the legal representatives, Anek Kamchum (เอนก คำชุ่ม) and Kamnuan Chaloptham (นายคำนวณ ชโลปถัมภ์) to withdraw from the trial,
"The court considers that the defendants are still in the court's jurisdiction because the defendants had surrendered to authorities, and the court had granted them bail," chief judge Tonglor Chomngarm (นายทองหล่อ โฉมงาม) said. He then announced that the hearings would proceed as planned. The court also told the couple's lawyers that it was up to their own judgement whether to question any of the defence witnesses.
Tewee Chavphijit of Legal and Litigation division of the Justice Department testified about legal issues concerning property sold through auction.
Viboonsaitej Thitapan of the Auditor Generals Office testified about the role of the OAG in auditing, scrutinizing, overseeing and recommendation for legal proceedings to the FIDF
Malee Manmintra the Deputy Director of Bangkok City Planning Department testified about the new Bangkok City Plan, and how this cancelled out the previous restrictions that were in place in the area surrounding the Thailand Cultural Centre and how the plan had originated from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, but did require cabinet approval before it could be legally implemented. She conceded that as a result of the new plan, land surrounding the Cultural Centre was now allowed to build taller buildings, but pointed out that this was more to do with land which was within 500 meters of the subway station, and the land which was auctioned to Pojaman Shinawatra was outside this zone. The previous rule which limited the height to approximately nine stories or 23 meters in height was no longer in effect, and the land was designated as allowing medium rise buildings.
Pavangthip Prampajon a Director of the Bank of Thailand testified about why the value of the asset was reduced by the FIDF from 2,140,357,500 baht to just 1,310,100,000 Baht. Pavangthip testified that in 2001, all FIDF assets were re-appraised in order to get a true reflection of their actual worth. The Asset re-evaluation was to enable the FIDF and Ministry of Finance to set up a new Agency called the Thai Asset Management Company (TAMC), which was tasked with taking over all distressed assets and thereby allow the financial sector to transfer all non - performing loans to the TAMC. The TAMC was then tasked with selling these assets. The TAMC is fully owned by the FIDF.
Viliwaan Sasanantra of the Office of the Auditor General testified that the OAG had not questioned the sale or the sale price.
